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The murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher

Yvonne Fletcher, a 25 year-old officer with the Metropolitan Police, was shot outside the Libyan Embassy on 17 April 1984.

She had been monitoring a protest by opponents of Muammar Gaddafi in St James’ Square when a burst of automatic gunfire rang out at around 10.17am.

Ten protestors were injured and WPC Fletcher was wounded in the stomach. She died an hour and a half later in hospital at 11.50am.

It is thought the fatal 9mm bullet was fired from the first floor of the embassy.

For the next eleven days the building was besieged by armed police. The standoff only ended when the Government, fearful about reprisals against British Embassy staff in Tripoli, agreed to deport all the staff rather than arrest and prosecute any suspects.

The following week, on May 3, 1984, the Police Memorial Trust was established to honour British police officers killed in the line of duty. The Trust unveiled a memorial to Yvonne Fletcher, who had joined the Met aged 19, in St James’ Square on February 1, 1985.

It was not until 1999 that the Libyan Government accepted responsibility for the shooting and agreed to pay compensation to the policewoman’s family. However nobody has yet been convicted for the murder.

In August 2011 Yvonne’s mother Queenie Fletcher said the end of the Gadaffi regime represented “the best chance to find my daughter’s killer.”

She said in a statement: “Even after all these years, I very much hope that somebody is brought to justice. I shall be very pleased if there is a new judicial process which can find my daughter’s killer.”

On July 17, 2012, two detectives from the MPS Counter Terrorism Command travelled to Libya as part of the investigation.

On 17 April 2014 the family of Yvonne Fletcher said in a statement: “Thirty years ago today, Yvonne was shot and killed outside the Libyan People’s Bureau in St James’s Square. To many it may seem like a fading memory but to the family it is as clear as yesterday.

“We have had to move on with our lives but it is difficult to move forward when the past remains unresolved. Closure is important to the family so that we can remember Yvonne as the happy caring person she was.

“We can look back and wish things had been handled differently but here we are 30 years later, having dealt with numerous governments and a dozen or more Foreign Secretaries and it seems no closer to achieving justice for Yvonne.

“Our desire for justice is as strong as ever and we continue to support the Metropolitan Police in their ongoing investigation. The truth about what happened 30 years ago is just as important to us today as it was then.

“It is time this case was closed, 30 years of being in the news and dealing with the pressure of media attention takes its toll on all the family, more than you will ever know.”

On 19 November 2015 a man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in relation to the shooting.

The Metropolitan Police also issued 14 pictures of men they want to identify as part of the investigation.

Images taken from video footage of a demonstration outside the embassy

A reward of £50,000 was offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the murder.

On 16 May 2017 the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it was unable to pursue a prosecution in respect of the murder.

The Metropolitan Police said the man arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder had been released with no further action and added: “We believe our investigation has identified enough material to identify those responsible for WPC Fletcher’s murder if it could be presented to a court. However the key material has not been made available for use in court in evidential form for reasons of national security.

“Therefore, without this material and following a review of all the evidence that was available to prosecutors, the Crown Prosecution Service – who we worked closely with throughout – have informed us that there is insufficient admissible evidence to charge the man.

“This was an act of state-sponsored terrorism and was part of a brutal bombing and shooting campaign waged by the Gaddafi regime during the 80s and 90s, targeting Libyan dissidents in the UK and across Europe, known as the ‘stray dogs campaign’.

“The murder of WPC Fletcher resulted in a police siege at the Libyan People’s Bureau lasting 10 days, after which 30 of the occupants of the bureau were deported back to Libya and the British Government severed diplomatic relations with the Libyan regime.

“Although our investigation has always remained open, cases like this do become harder to solve over time. Our judgement is that this concludes what was by far the best opportunity to solve this tragic case and provide a degree of closure for the victims and their families.

“This investigation will never be closed but the likelihood of finding further evidence, in Libya or elsewhere, is low.”

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, of the Met Police, said: “WPC Fletcher was just 25 years old when she was killed. She had joined the Met Police age 18 and I know that throughout her seven years of dedicated service she earned great respect from her colleagues and the community she served.

“The murder of a British police officer in broad daylight, outside an embassy, provoked a powerful reaction from the public and from officers at the time, and the tragedy of WPC Fletcher’s death continues to resonate with officers today.

“Every year, on the anniversary of WPC Fletcher’s death, serving and retired officers from the Met visit her memorial at St James’ Square to remember and mark their respects to a valued officer.

“I am extremely proud of the exceptional work the investigative team and the Crown Prosecution Service have carried out. I know they were incredibly determined to identify those responsible for the senseless murder of a colleague.

“I regret that we have not been able to deliver the justice that the victims and their families deserve.”

The family of WPC Yvonne Fletcher said in a statement: “We understand that some available evidence could not be used in court but are satisfied that the Metropolitan Police has left no stone unturned in its pursuit of justice in Yvonne’s case.

“The family would like to thank the Met for its continued hard work and diligence and also for always keeping us informed at every turn.

“We are deeply disappointed and frustrated that a prosecution cannot proceed at this time. We had hoped that the latest turn of events would finally lead to some closure for the family.”

On the 40th anniversary of the murder, in April 2024, the Met Police confirmed there were no active lines of enquiry but said officers would assess and investigate any relevant new information.

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Notes and sources:

Footage of the demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy and the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher on 17 April 1984 can be seen on YouTube. (Age restricted due to community guidelines).

For a fuller account of the attempts to investigate the murder, see the Wikipedia page on the case and the Daily Telegraph article Yvonne Fletcher and the Betrayal of Justice.

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Lord Lucan: A Killer at Large?

The disappearance of Lord Lucan is one of the most intriguing mysteries in modern British history.

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, was 40 when he fled justice after the murder of his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett on November 8 1974.

He has never been seen since, although countless theories have sprung up as to what actually happened to him.

Some believe he killed himself in the sea off the coast of Newhaven. Others claim he started a new life abroad, either in South Africa, Goa or New Zealand. Officially, he was declared dead in October 1999.

Known as ‘Lucky’ Lucan because of his fondness for gambling, he was educated at Eton College and served in the Coldstream Guards before taking up the earldom on the death of his father, a hereditary peer in the House of Lords.

By 1974 he had separated from his wife, Countess Veronica Lucan, who was living with their three children at 46 Lower Belgrave Street.

At 9.45pm on Thursday, November 7, the countess burst into a nearby pub, the Plumber’s Arms, and shouted: ‘Murder, murder! He’s tried to kill me!’

She was bleeding from wounds to her head and was taken to hospital after collapsing unconscious.

Police broke into the house and found the children unharmed – two were asleep and a third was watching TV in her bedroom.

But when officers went down to the basement they found blood splashed on the wall, bloody footprints and a canvas bag containing the body of Sandra Rivett.

She had severe injuries to the back of her head, most probably caused by a piece of lead piping wrapped with tape found nearby.

Lucan’s wife was later to tell police that she had been watching Mastermind on TV when the nanny asked her if she wanted a cup of tea.

When 29 year-old Miss Rivett did not return with the drink she went into the hallway to investigate.

At the top of the stairs leading down the basement she noticed the light switch did not work and called Sandra’s name. Suddenly she was beaten over the head with a heavy object.

The countess explained that she recognised her attacker as her husband and managed to fight him off by grabbing his testicles. According to her statement to police he then calmed down and admitted the nanny was dead.

She has later admitted that she offered to help him conceal the body but then seized her chance to escape when he went to the bathroom to fetch a cloth to tend to her wounds.

Many, including the countess himself, believe that Lucan mistook the nanny for his wife in the darkness, having taken out the lightbulb in preparation for his attack.

Lucan certainly had a motive – his wife had won custody of the children a year earlier and he had been left heavily in debt. He is said to have expressed a desire to kill her in conversations with two friends.

When police went to Lucan’s apartment in Elizabeth Street he was already gone, although his car keys, passport and driving licence were still in the flat.

He is known to have turned up at a friend’s home and made several phone calls, including one to his mother. He also wrote two letters to his sister-in-law’s husband, in which he claimed to have interrupted a fight between his wife and an intruder.

Lucan suggested his wife was paranoid and added: ‘The circumstantial evidence against me is strong in that V. will say it was all my doing and I will lie doggo for a while, but I am only concerned about the children.’

He was last seen at 1.15am driving away in a Ford Corsair, which was found three days later abandoned on the coast near Newhaven. One of his last acts was to write another letter to his friend Michael Stoop, who had lent him the car, which began: ‘I have had a traumatic night of unbelievable coincidences.’

His version of events were rejected in June 1975 by the inquest jury, who publicly named Lucan as the murderer. A month later a bill was passed banning coroner’s courts from identifying the killer, making it the last such verdict in the UK.

While there have since been thousands of sightings of him all over the world, none have been confirmed and police have not uncovered any proof he is still alive.

Lucan’s wife makes her position clear on her website: ‘I have publicly stated since 1987 that my late husband is not alive and I sometimes use the prefix ‘dowager’ to make my position clear which is that of a widow.’

Then in 2012 a witness came forward to say she arranged for Lucan’s children to fly to Africa between 1979 and 1981 so that he could see them from a distance.

Whatever the truth, the name of Lord Lucan, like that of the missing racehorse Shergar, has passed into folklore.

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There are many books which tell the story of Lord Lucan in detail, including Dead Lucky – Lord Lucan: The Final Truth by Duncan MacLaughlin.

Further detail on the case can be found online at the Crime Library website and Wikipedia.

The Countess of Lucan has also set up a website in an attempt to counter conspiracy theories, called Setting the Record Straight. The passport photo of Lord Lucan used to illustrate this article can be found there among other family photographs.

Witnesses reveal Lord Lucan’s secret life in Africa – BBC

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The Hanged Man: Roberto Calvi

The Mafia, the Vatican and a secret Masonic society have all been implicated in the murder of ‘God’s Banker’ Roberto Calvi.

A passerby on his way to work spotted the 62 year-old financier hanging from London’s Blackfriars Bridge at 7.30am on Friday 18 June, 1982.

Calvi was suspended from scaffolding above the Thames, an orange rope tied in a lover’s knot around his neck. Building bricks had been placed in his pockets to weigh him down along with around £7,500 in cash.

At first the City of London police believed his death was a suicide.

Three years earlier Calvi, the Chairman of the Catholic Banco Ambrosiano in Milan, had tried to kill himself while in prison awaiting trial for violating Italy’s currency laws.

Calvi was given a suspended sentence in 1981 and kept his position as Chairman but a year later an £800m black hole was found in the accounts.

On 5 June 1982, Calvi wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II asking him to intervene to prevent ‘a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage.’

Four days later he deserted his post and his apartment in Rome and fled to Venice. After shaving off his moustache he took a private plane to London.

The inquest in July 1982 ruled it was suicide but the decision was overturned after the Calvi family employed George Carman QC to argue their case. In July 1983 an open verdict was returned.

Since that date investigations have revealed evidence that Mr Calvi was assassinated to prevent him implicating major figures in Italy in the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano.

A year before his death, Calvi’s name had been discovered on a list of members of a Masonic Lodge known as Propaganda Due or P2, alongside two Cabinet ministers, 48 MPs and the heads of all three intelligence agencies.

Another name for P2 was the ‘frati neri’ or ‘black friars’.

The ‘grand master’ of P2, Licio Gelli, was later jailed for the Banco Ambrosiano fraud, which also affected its main shareholders, the Vatican Bank.

In 1991 an informer claimed that Calvi was killed on the orders of Licio Gelli and Sicilian mafia boss Giuseppe Calo, partly as punishment for embezzling money owed to P2 and the mafia.

Seven years later, during a reinvestigation by Italian police, Calvi’s body was exhumed. This time it was concluded that he had in fact been murdered. Injuries to his neck were inconsistent with hanging and there was no rust or paint on his shoes to back up the theory he had climbed onto the bridge scaffolding to hang himself.

Although Gelli did not stand trial, prosecutors brought charges against Giuseppe Calo, gangsters Flavio Carboni and Ernesto Diotallevi, Carboni’s ex-girlfriend Manuela Kleinszig and Calvi’s former driver and bodyguard Silvano Vittor.

The trial in Rome began on October 5, 2005, but after 20 months of evidence all five were cleared of murder after the judge decided there was insufficient evidence.

Despite the acquittals, it has now been accepted by City of London police that Calvi was murdered. But by whom?
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Sources and further information:

On This Day: a BBC video feature on the murder.

Article in the Evening Standard in 2003 on the fight for justice by Calvi’s son.

Wikipedia articles on Roberto Calvi, Licio Gelli and Giuseppe Calo.

Feature film based on the Calvi murder by director Giuseppe Ferrara – I Banchieri di Dio – Il Caso Calvi (2001)

Cornwell, Rupert (1983). God’s Banker: The Life and Death of Roberto Calvi

The disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh

Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh was 25 when she disappeared without trace on July 28, 1986.

Her white Ford Fiesta was found that night outside a house for sale in Stevenage Road, Fulham. Her purse was in the car but the key was missing.

She had recorded her last appointment in her office diary – ”12.45 Mr Kipper – 37 Shorrolds Road O/S” – meaning she would meet the client outside the address.

Suzy’s body has never been found but she was declared dead in 1994 and the investigation remains open.

Several suspects have been put forward: Convicted killer John Cannan, who is said to have had the prison nickname ”Kipper” and was living in a hostel after serving an eight year sentence for rape; Ipswich serial killer Steve Wright, who worked on the QE2 at the same time as Lamplugh in 1982; and Michael Sams, who kidnapped an estate agent in Birmingham in 1992.

Cannan’s former girlfriend Gilly Paige claimed that he confessed to raping and killing the estate agent as they drove past Norton Barracks in Worcestershire. Searches of that area and others suggested to police were fruitless.

In November 2002 Scotland Yard said that Cannan was ”the only suspect” but there was not enough evidence to charge him with the murder. He was then serving a 35-year minimum term life sentence for the abduction, rape and murder of 29-year-old newlywed Shirley Banks in Bristol in 1987.

Speaking in 2006, Detective Superintendent Jim Dickie said there was evidence Cannan had been monitoring Suzy before her disappearance.

The Metropolitan Police apologised publicly to Miss Lamplugh’s parents for faults in the original investigation, including a failure to follow up information from significant witnesses.

A driver of a black cab, who later positively identified Cannan, told police he took a man carrying a bottle of champagne to Shorrolds Road on that day in 1986. Witnesses also claimed to have seen a blonde woman arguing with a man in a black BMW in the area.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bill Griffiths said “It is a matter of great regret for all of us at the Metropolitan Police that significant opportunities were missed during the original inquiry.”

Police continued to investigate the case and in 2018 and 2019 searched property owned by Cannan’s mother in the West Midlands and open land in Worcestershire. No evidence was found.

A potential new lead was received in August 2019 when a witness reported seeing a man, disposing of a large bag in the Grand Union Canal in July 1986. However officers discovered that the part of the canal mentioned by the witness and the surrounding canal stretches had been extensively searched by the Met’s Marine Support Unit and London Fire Brigade Search Unit in September 2014 during an unrelated homicide investigation. That search did not reveal any items connected to the Suzy Lamplugh investigation.

In March 2021 the Metropolitan Police said it remained a “significant case” and that the investigation was ongoing.

We would urge anyone who believes they might know something about what happened to Suzy all those years ago to come forward. Whether you saw something that you thought was unconnected at the time, or you felt under pressure to protect someone you knew – it is not too late. The passage of time has not weakened our determination to seek justice and get the answers that the Lamplugh family continue to wait for. They have always been supportive of our efforts to make progress in the investigation, and they have shown remarkable strength despite the immense sadness they have endured over the years.
Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Reeves, the senior investigating officer

Cannan died at HMP Full Sutton on 6 November 2024.

Suzy’s mother Diana Lamplugh set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in December 1986 to ”highlight the risks people face and to offer advice, action and support to minimise those risks.”

Diana received an OBE in 1992 but sadly died in August 2011 without seeing anyone brought to justice for her daughter”s murder.

She once told how Suzy had rung her the day before her disappearance. “She was all bubbly, telling me how she was doing this and that. I said, ‘Be careful, darling’. She replied: ‘No, life’s for living, mummy’. And I think she was right.”

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Sources and further information:

The website of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011.

Timeline of the Lamplugh case (Guardian). Wikipedia ”Disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh”. Did Suzy have an affair with her killer? (Mail Online). Interview with criminologist Christopher Berry-Dee about links between Cannan and the Lamplugh case (Sunday Mercury). Lamplugh suspect linked to killer”s car 20 years on (Telegraph). We”re sure of Suzy Lamplugh”s killer (Observer). Police name man who killed Suzy Lamplugh (Telegraph). Obituary for Diana Lamplugh (Guardian).

The Unsolved Murder of Daniel Morgan

The murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan remains one of London’s most notorious unsolved cases.

On March 10, 1987, the 37 year-old father-of-two was hacked to death with an axe outside the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham.

Why was he killed? His family, including brother Alastair, are convinced that Daniel was close to exposing a group of corrupt police officers, but six investigations have failed to provide a conclusive answer or bring his killers to justice.

Daniel Morgan ran a detective agency called Southern Investigations. The night he was killed he had a 90-minute meeting with his business partner Jonathan Rees at the Golden Lion. At 9pm he left by a back entrance to get to the car park, a Rolex watch on his wrist and £1,100 in his pocket.

He was later found lying on the ground near his car with an axe embedded in the side of his head. The Rolex was missing but the cash remained.

The following month Rees, his brothers in law Garry and Glenn Vian, and Sid Fillery, one of the Catford police station detectives initially assigned to the case, were arrested, only to be released without charge.

At the inquest in April 1988, the bookkeeper at Southern Investigations alleged that Rees and Fillery planned the contract killing. By this time Fillery had retired from the police, and in 1989 he joined Southern Investigations as Rees’ new partner.

The pair went on to carry out work for a number of tabloid newspapers including the News of the World and are said to have provided the information for exposes of celebrities, politicans and royalty.

A second inquiry by Hampshire Police began on 24 June 1988 following a complaint by the Morgan family to Home Secretary Douglas Hurd. Rees was again arrested, but the charges were dropped.

Between June 1998 and May 1999 police monitored the offices of Southern Investigations as part of a third investigation. Although it did not assist the murder enquiry, it did provide evidence that Rees was in a plot to frame model Kim James with drugs to help her husband win custody of their son. In December 2000 he was jailed for six years at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A fourth investigation began in 2002 but a year later the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to go ahead with a case against Rees and two others on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

Another flawed attempt began in 2006. Two years later Rees, Garry Vian, Glenn Vian and James Cook were charged with murder and Sidney Fillery was charged with perverting the course of justice.

It was expected the trial would take place in April 2009. Two years of legal wrangling over disclosure of evidence and police handling of witnesses followed. In February 2010 a judge stopped the case against Sidney Fillery after excluding the evidence of a key witness. The charges against Cook were dropped in November. The entire case collapsed in March 2011 after prosecutors accepted they could no longer guarantee that full disclosure of evidence could be made to the defence.

The Metropolitan Police have since admitted that the original investigation in 1987 was tainted by police corruption, without giving any details of that corruption.

Alastair Morgan commented at the end of the case: “We have encountered stubborn obstruction and worse at the highest levels of the Metropolitan police. We have found an impotent police complaints system, and we have met with inertia or worse on the part of successive governments. We have been failed utterly by all of the institutions designed to protect us.”

On 10 May 2013 the Home Secretary Theresa May announced an independent panel would look into the circumstances of the case.

The remit of the panel involved addressing questions related to “police involvement in the murder, the role played by police corruption in protecting those responsible for the murder from being brought to justice and the failure to confront that corruption, the incidence of connections between private investigators, police officers and journalists at the News of the World and other parts of the media and alleged corruption involved in the linkages between them.”

Eight years later, on 15 June 2021, the panel’s report was finally published. It found that the Metropolitan Police’s failure to properly investigate the case and its attempt to cover up its failings amounted to “a form of institutional corruption”. It also criticised Met Commissioner Cressida Dick over delays in providing documents to the panel and raised concerns about links between police officers, “individuals linked to crime” and newspapers, particularly the News of the World (which was a major client of Southern Investigations between 1987 and 1989). The panel concluded that the Met Police never seriously investigated the theory that Morgan was murdered because he was about to expose police corruption.

The family of Daniel Morgan has suffered grievously as a consequence of the failure to
bring his murderer or murderers to justice, the unwarranted assurances which they were given, the misinformation which was put into the public domain, and the denial of the failings in investigation, including failing to acknowledge professional incompetence, individuals’ venal behaviour, and managerial and organisational failures.
Statement of the Panel issued by Baroness Nuala O’Loan

In July 2023, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley issued an apology to the family of Daniel Morgan after agreeing to settle a civil claim and make an admission of liability in respect of the conduct of his officers in response to the murder.

I unequivocally and unreservedly apologise for the failure of the Metropolitan Police Service to bring those responsible for the murder of Daniel Morgan to justice. From the earliest stages, his family have been repeatedly and inexcusably let down by the Metropolitan Police. This case has been marred by a cycle of corruption, professional incompetence, and defensiveness that has repeated itself over and over again. Daniel Morgan’s family were given empty promises and false hope as successive investigations failed and the Metropolitan Police prioritised its reputation at the expense of transparency and effectiveness.
Sir Mark Rowley

The Met Police said that “there still remains a possibility of solving this murder” and confirmed it was still carrying out a forensic review of exhibits linked to the case in the hope that advances in DNA and forensic technology might recover new evidence.

A £50,000 reward is on offer for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the murder. Contact police on 0203 276 7816 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Note: This case is included on our map of historical murders in London

Links and further reading:

The website set up by Daniel Morgan’s family www.justice4daniel.org

Daniel’s brother was also involved in the podcast series (and book) Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder Exposed.

Two other books cover the case in depth: Bent Coppers: The inside story of Scotland Yard’s battle against police corruption (Graeme McLagan) and Untouchables: Dirty Cops, Bent Justice and Racism in Scotland Yard (Michael Gillard and Laurie Flynn).

‘Daniel Morgan murder, 24 years, five police enquiries but no justice‘, Guardian, March 11, 2011.

Original pictures of the murder scene in 1987 can be found in ‘Corrupt police are blamed for £50m collapse of murder case‘, Daily Mail, March 11, 2011.

‘Murder trial collapse exposes News of the World links to police corruption‘, ‘Jonathan Rees: private investigator who ran empire of tabloid corruption‘, Guardian, March 11, 2011.

‘Phone Hacking Scandal: Rees obtained information using dark arts‘, Guardian, June 8, 2011.

‘News of the World spied on detective during murder enquiry,’ Telegraph, July 5, 2011.

The website of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel, which was set up in May 2013 but has still not published its report.

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